For Wednesday, August 27

Prepare for your in class writing over Foer's "How Not to Be Alone."

Here are the two prompts I will give you on Wednesday.  You will choose which essay to write.  The answers to the other questions on your team discussion sheet should help you as you prepare for your essay.  For instance, for both essays you could use Foer's description of what it means to be human.  Are we falling short of our human capabilities and responsibilities in current culture?  Are the characters falling short of their human capabilities in ELIC.  Using your observations found in answering number 2, let your essay explore the human propensity to be complacent in our relationships.  Oscar's father forces him to interact with others; how does this help Oscar heal and become "more human."

For question 4, you could organize by social situations, for example:  family trips, friendship and dating relationships, and neighborhood communities.  You could also organize by the substitutes:  how have television, social media, and smart phones affected true, face to face communication.  You might also look for observations at various venues:  a living room, a restaurant, a church.

For question 6, you could structure your essay by character and/or relational situation.  How do Oscar, Grandmother, and Grandfather all demonstrate the need for human contact and communication?  How do the characters in the novel reveal the need for attentiveness?  How does the story demonstrate that attentiveness blesses the giver and the receiver?  How does the story reveal that our connectedness to others should be our "life work?" 

  

4.  Foer asserts:  “The problem with accepting—with preferring—diminished substitutes is that over time, we, too, become diminished substitutes.  People who become used to saying little become used to feeling little.”  Examine the extent to which Foer’s observation applies to contemporary society, supporting your position with appropriate evidence.  Your examples can come from current events, personal experience, history, or literature.

6.  What is Foer's essential argument in “HNtBA”? In a well-written essay, analyze the ways Foer makes this same argument in ELIC.  Your thesis might look something like:  In the essay "How Not to Be Alone" and his novel  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer suggests that humanity _______________________________.   

Continue reading Frederick Douglass.  Friday, your two page response paper is due.   We will discuss some of Frederick Douglass on Friday, but your main goal should be your response paper.  You can then finish up any pages you have left to read over the weekend.